The traditional retail commerce is characterized by a product offer by a large number of manufacturers to a mass market of consumers via a range of intermediary retail channels (sellers). The seller must utilize various methodologies, including advertising, packaging, and pricing, to attract potential buyers. Further, the seller assumes all risks and costs associated with consummating a sale.
Often, various products are offered to customers at department stores having a plurality of departments, each department selling a particular range of products, for example children apparel, women's shoes, etc. It is known in the art to accumulate information about customers' shopping preferences, for example through the use of credit cards. Preferred customers may then be rewarded through various reward programs. However, these reward programs may only influence a particular customer's shopping experience after the purchase is already completed. Thus, these reward programs are not very effective to influence a customer's experience while he/she is in the process of making shopping decisions. Furthermore, it is recognized that customers go through several stages of decision making process prior to making a purchase. In order to influence customer's experience the seller needs to understand the current stage of the buyer's decision making. However, it has been noted that purchase history alone does not provide enough insight into the ways buyers decide on their purchases.